Before A Fall- Umbrella Academy FIVE X Female Reader

Chapter Eight: Harvey Klein

You had outwardly accepted Five's continuing shadiness about what was going on, with Klaus keeping you informed of his plans with the others behind the scenes.

Their heist was today. Their plan, when all was said and done, was to break into the JUICED head offices by night and see what they could find. In your opinion, it was breathtakingly stupid. Most of the employees would have their computers at home with them by night and there wasn't going to be some filing cabinet marked 'evil plans.' Sometimes the Academy's lack of experience in solving problems in indirect ways was painfully obvious.

You might have mentioned this if not for your plans with Klaus. You wanted to prove to Five that you weren't helpless.

"Mr Klein?"

"Yes?"

He looks exactly as you would have expected: an early forties sales guy. Hard working, hard drinking and a bit of an asshole. He was wearing the 'trendy start-up sales team' uniform: a polo shirt and expensive sneakers rather than office-wear. Together you'd followed him from his new workplace to a hipster bar and casual eatery. Klaus had entered a minute or two after Klein and chosen a seat nearby. As you entered, he was ordering a coffee.

At first, in loyalty to Five, Klaus had been unwilling to let you be the face of this operation and potentially but yourself at risk, but you'd soon persuaded him that you had a much better chance than him at this part. From research, you knew Klein's type, his professional presence online had a whiff of your old co-worker Charlie about it- not so much as to make you dislike him, but enough to know what buttons to press. Klaus watching from the sidelines was the compromise you'd reached. You had taken a long lunchbreak to pull this off and Klaus had been waiting in a car outside.

"Get in bitch!"

You had laughed. He'd 'borrowed' Five's Corvette and was waiting with the top down.

"Five is going to kill us."

"He's going to kill us anyway, may as well go out in style!"

You'd found yourself unable to disagree and jumped in.

You'd dressed today with more than usual care, trying to give the impression you thought would work best for the man Harvey seemed to be. Pictures of him with previous girlfriends had been plenty, and he certainly had a type. Not you, precisely, but near enough that you could mimic. You'd chosen a sleeveless black jumpsuit, positioning the plunge neckline as to make a red bra just visible if you moved the right way. You'd chosen some quite punky ear-jewelry too. You wanted him to see professional competence but begin to form the idea that you might have a wild side. The white blazer you'd been wearing to cover up a little at work was left in the trunk; wearing it in front of Klein would defeat the object.

Stood in front of Klein's table now, you find you're not nervous.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt you- this is a strange thing to say- but I actually follow you on LinkedIn and I was hoping to meet you in person- it's Harvey Klein, right?" you give your most ingratiating smile.

He smiles back, only slightly wrongfooted. You shake his hand and introduce yourself, "I'm with Hammonds."

"Oh!" he says, as if this means something to him.

"It's so nice to meet you. I really loved your piece on facilitating customer success. What you say about cross-organization collaboration- it's so, so true!" You give a little outtake of breath, as if his wisdom had been revelatory.

He preens, "Thank you, it's nice to know someone reads them."

"Of course they do, I catch them often," then, eagerly, "Do you mind if I sit down?"